I have a question about a Pacifica GT400 wheel. I recently found a Pacifica wheel out in someone’syard out in the rain. It has been therefor over a year, but looked like it was ok. The owner said he put it out there because it needed a new bearing (itwas making noise, but still operated smooth) and never did it. The sawdust board under the plastic top wasall rotted out and soft from water. Hesaid it all worked fine so I picked it up for next to nothing.

After getting it home the top was so soft it just came apartwhen I started to take the bolts out. Itook it apart and dried it all out. The controller,foot pedal and motor are perfect and silky smooth and quiet. After some wire brushing and some paint theframe is going to be perfect and the motor and electronics will work just fine.

Now the problem. Withthe wheel head stuck to the shaft and bearing housing I cannot get it to comeapart. I loosened the set screws (two onthe side of the wheel head chock). Ieven sprayed some penetrating oil in the seam of the shaft into the head, butit still does not budge.

The old wooden (saw dust board) top that is under the plasticcover just came apart in chunks and I discarded all of that, but the head and theshaft/bearing and housing are still stuck in the plastic cover so it is alittle hard to work with. However it isfloating in there so I can get access to the entire shaft and housing.

I need some advice on what to do? Try and get the head off? Just buy a new head, bearing housing andshaft? If I cannot get the head off theshaft would be better to sacrifice the wheel head and try and save the shaftand bearing housing? If anyone has anyadvice on this then please chime in.

Brain
Heat is what you need-I do not know about where any plastic is on this wheel but some spot heart from a small propane torch will free this up pronto-you can heat the shaft or better the outer casing on wheel head to shaft-either way heat will break the bond.
wear some gloves and heat it up then separate them.
Mark
I have a B tank of acetylene gas that I use for this but a tank full of mapp gas may just do it as it burns hotter-Another super lube I use is Deep creep and PB blaster both get into and open rust.

BrainHeat is what you need-I do not know about where any plastic is on this wheel but some spot heart from a small propane torch will free this up pronto-you can heat the shaft or better the outer casing on wheel head to shaft-either way heat will break the bond.wear some gloves and heat it up then separate them.Mark

I doubt you'll get enough heat on it with a propane torch--my experience with stuck metal on metal is that you need something capable of a lot more heat than that to make a difference. What I would use is some "kroil" which is a super effective penetrating oil... It seriously will free darn near anything up, and if you can get it onto a seem, no matter how small, the capillary action is so amazing itll get in there. Alternately, if that doesnt work, the next step up is to mix 50-50 by volume acetone and automatic transmission fluid... That makes one amazing penetrating oil. As someone who has restored old and rusted metalworking equipment, I can tell you that these are the two best non destructive methods of unsticking stuck parts I have found... Id try them before I put a torch to anything.

Im one of those newbies who is finally abile to comment on an issue and hopefully help. I happen to be a bit of a bike fiend and have had issues like this. A old Colnago (steel frame) of mine decided it didnt want to give up a (alluminum seat) post. I tried everything incuding taking it into the shop and the mechanics there couldnt get it either. They actually wanted to cut it out piece by piece, which is a bit scary to do to an old Colnago. So enough of my rambling, what I ended up doing is applied some ammonia. Yes mr. clean will knock the oxidation out of a steel/alluminum bond and fairly fast (like minutes top)
I hope this helps

It as been several days of putting pentrating oil everyday and still no budging. I even took a rubber to it and no luck. I have decided to cut teh wheel head in pieces to get it off the shaft. worst case it that I ruin it all and have to buy new, but at this point it does not matter becuase it is lost anyway. I will just order a new wheel head. I will let you know how to goes.

It as been several days of putting pentrating oil everyday and still no budging. I even took a rubber to it and no luck. I have decided to cut teh wheel head in pieces to get it off the shaft. worst case it that I ruin it all and have to buy new, but at this point it does not matter becuase it is lost anyway. I will just order a new wheel head. I will let you know how to goes.

Brian,

(Sorry I didn't respond sooner, I've been buried in holiday shows and haven't been reading the forum much)

We have Pacifica wheels in my classroom and one time we had a stuck wheelhead too. I called Laguna and this is what they said: While wearing work gloves that have some kind of grippy surface on the palms, adjust the pedal so the wheel is spinning very slowly. Grab the wheel head and twist it in the opposite direction.

We tried it and it popped right off.

Then again, our wheel had not been through weather conditions such as your, YMMV.

It as been several days of putting pentrating oil everyday and still no budging. I even took a rubber to it and no luck. I have decided to cut teh wheel head in pieces to get it off the shaft. worst case it that I ruin it all and have to buy new, but at this point it does not matter becuase it is lost anyway. I will just order a new wheel head. I will let you know how to goes.

I know you must have cut it already but would it not be cheaper than a new head to take it to a torch place and get them to heat it up to break it loose.?Mark

Yes too late. I already cut it off. Now to order a new head and rebuild the MDF table top. I will get it going soon. I do have another question.

Is it better to go buy a new shaft with bearing and housing all assembeled from Laguna (through local clay shop Clay Art Center in Tacoma) or take ti down to a machine shop and get new bearing put in the existing housing and reuse teh old shaft?